Automobile-signal.



F. S. BECKMAN.

AUTOMOBILE SIGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. I1, I9IJ.

L, 1L 24. Patented Jan. 8, 1918. V

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- IIIII III Application .ternary it, i912?. Seriell .Tocli wwm t may] concern:

.e lle` it known 'that l, Dr. iinrrz S. Breit Meng, a citizen of theUnited States, residing etilllrundy Center, in the county ci GrundyState of iowa, have inveitd certain nea an,cl `usetul Improvements inAntonio bil r. iigriels; and .l do hereby declare the following to be a.toil, clear, and exact de scription of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to malte and usethe saine.

This invention relates4 to an automobile signal and has for one of itsobjects the provision of a device of this character, whereby theoperator oi the automobile :tney notify the tra'iic in front and rearthereof in which direction a turn to be made. v Another object of thisinvention is to `provide a casing having direction indicating -rollerstherein` adapted tp be electrically operated to show the directionindicating characters through slots in the casing.

A further object of this invention is to provide electromagncts locatedin the casing which when energized are adapted to rotategears which inturn rotate the rollers in one direction or .into signaling position. to.display through the slots of the rection indicatingcharacters.

riinrther object of this invention is the provisin of means :forreturning the rollers to their normal position or into non-signalingposition. N n

A still further object of this invention is -thefpiovision of anautomobile signal of the above stated character, which shall besimple,'durable and etlicient, and which may be manufactured and sold.at a compare tively low costo W ith these and other objects in view aswill become more apparent as the description proceeds, the inventionconsists of certairrf novel features of construction, combination andarrangement of parte as will behcreinafter more fully described andclaimed.

For a complete understanding ot my invention,reference is to be had tothe followingndescription, and accennoanying draw- 'irigminV which:

iiigure l. is a vertical sectional vienT oi an automobile constructedaccordance with vmy ins/'entitm l iiig., is longitudinal sectional Viewof the saine, i

liti@ is e sectioned View ilins casing the ditrating the means tonon-signaling oosition,`

of a steerirj wheel trating contacts thereon ,for automaticallyoperating the automobile signal, j,

Fig. is a detail sectionalvieiv.tali o the line 6-3 ci" l? ig. 5,. i

Fig. l is .it illustrating a modified iorniof meensfolr operating 'theautomobile signal, V

8 is a Cliagrai'nniatical viewot the Wiring diagram,

plan View of 'ya steering'vvheellifor .retinfningl the rollers riff. eperspective view ofthe `tesinfy4 1g. e is otraginentary.perspectiveView;` end steering post fillusi' FigK 9 is sdetail sectionalview illustrates. ing a boitier' connecting the` bers`to the` to the supporting brackets `3 and lend' the'` roller 8 hasegear which meshes gear 5.

meshes with the gear 6. The rollers 7 and 8 extend parallel Witlifthelslots 2 of the with the 275 a pair et parallel and rela.-A

The roller l has a gear 10 which` casing l and each have directionindicating4 i characters printed or otherwiseY yapplied thereon, such as9Riglitl pair of relatively .spaced l Within the casing and have anarmature plate'lQ over-v lying them which is supported by e bar 13 thatis pivoted to standards llisecuredto the casing. The free cndof the barllias and Leiitlll i, and electrically` connected magnets il are secureda pin i5 pivoted thereto Whiclicxtends into. t

anaperturein the gear 5, so thatavhentbe magnets l1 are energized, thebar i3 is*v moved downwardly rotating 4the gear 5.

which in turn rotates the roller 8 bringing the direction indicatingcharacters thereon in View througl'i one of the slots 2 of the casing,whereby the tratiic can be notified that the automobile is going to turnto the left,

A pair ot relatively spaced and electri` cally connected magnets kl54are secured Within the casing 'i and are overlain by an;

armature plete 16 that is carried by a bar 1T. @ne end oi the bar i? 1spivoted .to standards which are secured to the casingu A, pin i9 ispivoted tothe free end of the bar 17 and extends into an aperture in thegear 6, whereby upon energizing the magnets 15, the gear 6 will berotated, which in turn rotates-the roller 7 bringing the directionindicatingl characters thereon in view through one of the slots of thecasing 1.

Coiled springs 20 are secured to the supporting brackets 3 and 4 andhave their 10 free ends connected to the gears 5 and 6, whereby when thegears are rotated to move the direction indicating characters intosignaling position or into view through the slots 2 of the casing, thegears 5 will be turned against the tension ot' the spring and .as soonas the electric magnets are denergized, the springs return the gears 5to their normal position, which returns the direction indicatingcharacters into a non- 20 signaling position.

Partitions 21 and 22 are formed, in one end of the casing to formchambers 23 and 24. rfhe chambers 23 and 24 in the front walls thereofhave substantially rectangular 25 openings, which are closed by coloredglass plates 25 and 26. Secured within cachot the chambers 23 and 24 aresockets 27 which have electric lamps 28 and 29 mounted therein. Theelectric lamps are electrically con- 30 ncctcd with the magnets 11 and15 sc that when the magnets are energized, the electric lamp connectedto the respective magnets will be illuminated so as to make the signalvisible at night time. The glass 25 is pref erably colored blue whilethe glass plate 26 is preferably colored yellow so that the traliic maydetermine in which direction the automobile is going to turn, either tothe right or left.

In reducing my invention to practice, one of the casings 1 are securedto each end or .to the front and rear of the automobile and each areplaced in electrical circuit with each other, so that when the signal isdisplayed Within the casing upon the front end of the automobile, acorresponding signal will be displayed in the rear of the automobile.

Referring to Fig. `8 in whichl the wiring diagram is disclosed, themagnets 11 are electrically connected together and have connectedthereto conductors 31 and-32. The conductor 32 is connected to theelectric lamp 28, which has connected thereto a conductor 33. Theconductor 33 is connected to a storage battery 34. The conductor 31 isconnected to a switch 35. A conductor 36 is connected to the switch 35and to themagnets 11 located in the rear casing 1 mounted upon the rearend of the automobile. The

last mentioned electric magnets 11lare connccted to the electric lamps28 located within the rear casing and which has 'connected thereto, aconductor 37 that isjconnectcd to the storage battery 34, whereby uponclosing 35 the switch 35, the magnets 11 will be energized operating theroller Sto bring the direction indicating characters thereon in viewthrough one of the slots of the casing, both in the front and rear ofthe automobile, simultaneously. When the magnets 11 are 70 energized,the electric lamps 28 are also illuminated which illuminates the yellowglass plate 26 in the chamber 24 making the signal visible at nighttime. A conductor 38 is connected to the conductor 33 and to 75 theelectric lamps 29 located in the front casing. A conductor 39 isconnected to the conductor 37 and to the electric lamps 29 located inthe rear casing. The electric lamps 29 located in the front and rearcas- 80 ings are connected to the pairs of magnets 15 by conductors 40and 41. Connectedv to the pairs ot' magnets 15 located in the frontcasing, is a conductor 42 which is connected to a'switch 43. Connectedto the switch 43 85 is a conductor 44, which connects to the magnets 15located in the rear casing, whereby upon closing the switch 43, themagnets in the front and rear casings will be simultaneously energizedto operate the rollers 7 90 to bring the dlrection indicating charactersthereon in registration with the slots of the casing. The electric lamps29 located in the t'ront and rear casings will be simultaneouslyilluminated with the magnets 15. The switches 35 and 43, if desired, maybe mounted upon the steering wheel 45 of the alitomobile, as clearlyillustrated in Fig. 7, whereby the operator may operate either of theswitches when desirlng to operate the signal. y

oReferringto my modified form of invention as illustrated in Fig. 5, inwhich means are disclosed for automatically operating the signal uponthe turning of the steering wheel,.consists of a contact 46 securedtothe steerig post housing 47, which remains stationary. ,fMounted uponthe steering wheel is a pair of relatively spaced contacts 48 and 49,whereby upon turning the steering wheel to steer the automobile, eitherof the contacts 48 or.49 will move into an engagement with the contact46 and complete an electric circuit to the signal for operating therollers therein.

While I Ahave shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be. understood that minor changes in construction,combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Vv'hat is claimed is: l

An automobile signal comprising a casing having slots in the front wallthereof, direction indicating rollers journaled in the casing andextending .parallel with the slots, magnets located in said casing,standards secured 1n said casing, bar-s pivoted to the standards andoverlying the magnets. gears momes Q ionrnaled v'in the cztsng, andhaving nper- Kn testmon whereof 1I u sfgnaturo tures therein, pinspivote@ to the fr'e ends 1n. prsence o two wntnesses. of the-bars andextendmg mto the apertures of the gears, and gears secured to the endsDRFRLKTZ BBG 5 of the rollers und in mesh with the first men Witnesses:tioned gears; and means for energizing the T. E. REYNOLDS,

magnets to rotate the rollers. B., J. Komm

